


Factual Bias

by mute90



Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Episode Related, Gen, Light Angst, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:02:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22068967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mute90/pseuds/mute90
Summary: Mel and Macy talk after the events of the Season 1 Finale: The Source Awakens.
Relationships: Macy Vaughn & Mel Vera
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15
Collections: CW Charmed Secret Santa 2019





	Factual Bias

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Forlorn Kumquat (sara_wolfe)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/gifts).



\- Macy -

Macy Vaughn collected information. It was what she did. She did it to things. She did it to people. (Honestly, when it came to people, she did more information gathering than interaction. No jumping in head first for her.) Collecting information helped her feel comfortable, confident. In theory, it enabled her to get a feel for a situation.

In theory.

Outside of the bar, Macy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the information running through her head.

One: Mel loved her. At that point in time, it was indisputable. Mel wouldn't leave her when she had every reason to, and Macy understood her a little more than she did a week before. Mel was someone's sister all her life, and she was good at it. Rough, sometimes. Pushy. Prickly. But she navigated sisterhood like it was a basic tenet of her life.

(It was only natural, Macy thought. Mel grew up with a sister, as the oldest even though she _wasn’t_.)

Two: Mel wasn't afraid of her. Not really. Mel wasn’t afraid of anything, as far as Macy could tell. Not the kind of afraid that made her run and hide. Fear made her angrier. It made her dig her heels in and refuse to compromise.

(Macy had her fears, and she did so much hiding that Mel’s transparency seemed like another thing Mel got to have and she didn’t.)

Three: Mel didn’t trust her. It wasn’t blatant or mean. She was just… She was never alone with her. Didn’t sit next to her. Her eyes would snap up when Macy made a too-quick movement. Then, she’d give a thin, awkward smile and return to what she was doing. 

Subconscious discomfort. Understandable given their history.

(Half the time, she thought it was really Maggie who wasn't leaving her alone with Mel. But she wasn’t sure she could deal with that.)

Finally, four: Mel liked honesty. In fact, Macy wasn’t sure subtlety even worked on Mel. If someone unexpectedly nudged Mel, there was a possibility she’d elbow them in the face. If something needed to be said, it was best to just spit it out.

(Which was ironic, because Mel had nearly bitten her head off the last time she spit something out. _Not now, Macy_ , she thought.)

Taking another deep breath and straightening her shoulders, Macy walked into Mel’s place of work.

\- Mel -

“What was it like?”

Mel raised her eyebrows, still not sure what was going on. When Macy had shown up at The Haunt at the end of Mel’s shift, she only said she wanted to talk. Grab a drink. Ten minutes later, Macy’s beer sat untouched and she was tearing a napkin into tiny pieces. They’d had better conversations.

Anxiety. Mel wondered if Macy had always had it.

“Macy, what are we talking about?” Mel asked.

Macy stopped tearing, closed her eyes for a moment, and let out an embarrassed laugh. “Wow. I’m not explaining anything, am I?” She opened her eyes and pushed the torn napkin pieces to the side. “The other reality, Mel. I’m talking about the other reality.”

Mel nodded, giving her a thin smile. “What was the other reality like?”

“Yeah. I mean, I remember my life and I was there for a lot of Maggie’s, but yours… Well, you were alone.”

_‘I made sure you were alone,’_ was written between the lines. Macy probably intended Mel to understand that, but Mel also heard ‘alone _like me’_ and she doubted Macy had wanted to give that away. Leaning forward on the bar stool and trying to channel some of Maggie’s tact, Mel answered, “Different and the same all at once. I don’t know. It seemed like life always had a way of making me - _me_.”

Macy smiled, her smile as thin as Mel’s. “Life always finds a way.”

‘Like a way to kill mom’ was another unspoken message. Macy always had unspoken messages, hidden meanings, and silent criticisms. Mel was starting to understand that, but she still had no idea what to do with it. She focused on the question instead. “I think the memories of this reality were always sitting in the back of my head. I still went into Women's Studies. Still quit when I was doing my thesis. I was even a Big Sister. In Seattle. I - .”

“You missed Maggie.”

They froze at the statement, Macy’s eyes widening as proof that she hadn’t planned that out in her head.

Mel nodded, once. “Yeah, I missed my family.”

Macy’s hand reached out for the pieces of napkin again and then curled up on the table. “I’m so sorry, Mel.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” said Mel, simply.

“No, I hurt you and that’s my fault,” said Macy, just as simply. With the problem finally sitting on the table between them, she seemed to be gaining her confidence. “I blamed you for everything that was wrong with me. Decided that you were the biggest problem.”

Mel looked down, the Source’s words still easy to remember. _You’ve always been the problem._ The truth was, she’d gone over it in her head for days. The Source, how Macy lost herself, how she made sure Mel was far away: was she really the problem?

Macy reached halfway across the table. Mel’s eyes snapped to her hand and Macy pulled it back, fingers curling in again. “You know it’s okay to be mad at me, right? Despite recent experiences, I'm not that fragile. Really."

“I’m not mad.”

“Mel.”

“I’m not mad,” Mel repeated, “at you.” Macy frowned. Mel bit her lip. She tried to organize the thoughts that had been running through her head and the arguments she’d been having with herself. “You had something magical influencing you. I don’t blame you. Mostly, I’m mad at myself.”

“Why would you be -?”

“Our magical bond broke because you believed our sisterhood broke,” Mel explained. “You weren’t confident and I contributed to that. I’m sorry.”

Macy’s frown got deeper and her hands uncurled until they were flat on the table. “Mel, you’re not the source of my problems.”

“Not all of them,” Mel conceded.

“Not really any of them,” said Macy. She paused.

\- Macy -

Mel wasn’t the problem. She was.

It was the conclusion Macy had come to in the alternate reality, but it seemed her mind hadn’t been done blaming Mel. Collecting bad data. “You haven’t been trying to ignore me, have you?”

“What? Macy, no.” 

Mel started to reach across the table. Macy tensed. Mel pulled her hand back and Macy almost laughed at how ridiculous it was. Was this what the last week had really been like? The both of them reaching out and pulling back until Macy’s head was screaming that Mel clearly wanted nothing to do with her?

Macy rubbed at her eyes. Mel was watching her, and it wasn’t distrust. It was just wariness, trying to navigate the minefield that had become their relationship. “The way I feel sometimes - uncertain, lonely - that started long before I met you. I mean, you can be - _you know_.” Mel snorted, surprised, and Macy gave her a shrug. “But, in the long run, you make it better. You and Maggie.”

“Maggie more than me,” said Mel.

“Maggie more than both of us,” Macy corrected. “I’ve been told I’m not the easiest person to get to know.”

“But I do wanna get to know you,” said Mel. “We’re sisters. We’re better together.”

Macy sucked in an uneven breath, unprepared for how familiar that sounded. “Our differences are our strengths?”

Mel smiled, sad but fond. “Mom?”

“She used to say that to me and Maggie,” Macy explained. “We never really lived up to it. I was out of my mind, Maggie was all alone, and _you_ weren’t there.” 

Mel’s hand slid forward again, just partway across the table. She began to thrum her fingers on the table. “She always meant the _three_ of us.”

Macy wiped at her eyes, contemplated Mel’s hand, and then slid off her barstool. She dragged it around their tiny round table until it was right next to Mel. She sat down again. The torn napkin was sitting in front of her again, and she flicked at one piece. She looked up at her smiling sister who, it turned out, was navigating this new sisterhood thing as cautiously as Macy was. 

“I love you,” Macy said. “I hope you know that. That’s like fact number one about us.”

“Fact number one?”

“I’m a little weird. You’ll get used to it.”

Mel leaned into her. “Well, I love you too.”

“I knew that,” said Macy. “It’s good to hear, but it’s one thing I knew.”

**Author's Note:**

> Done for the Charmed 2019 Secret Santa prompt from forlorn-kumquat: Macy and Mel finally sit down and talk about Macy's Source-influenced comment of "You've always been the problem."


End file.
